


Leather, Meet Denim: A Vulgar Yet Heartfelt Seaig Manifesto

by ScumdogSnev



Category: Degrassi the Next Generation
Genre: Character Analysis, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Ship Manifesto, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 03:57:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11176530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScumdogSnev/pseuds/ScumdogSnev
Summary: Who says ship manifestos are dead? Join me, a Degrassi: The Next Generation hate-watcher and psychology enthusiast, as I revisit a relationship that was all the rage in 2002. As we dive into the murky waters of Sean and Craig's psyches, I'll also explain why their friendship was so important for the both of them and why I feel it should have led to something more between the two.





	1. Setting the Stage

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, you!
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to check this out; it means a great deal to me, since I want to spread the word about my OTP to as many willing people as possible.
> 
> Anyway, like the title says, shit's pretty vulgar. Don't expect me to praise the show too much. My attitude within this manifesto will make sense in the first few paragraphs, I swear.
> 
> Given how long this manifesto is going to be, this is going to be separated into five chapters so you don't have to strain your eyes and won't have to take in too much info at once.
> 
> The images used here were screencapped by kaleidocat (she's responsible for bringing Seaig into the limelight on Fan Forum, so she's really cool) and uploaded on her Crash fansite, The Angsty Artists Online: http://www.craig-ashley.com/coppermine/index.php
> 
> Hope you enjoy the show!

Back Up, Someone Still Cares This Much About Seaig In 2017?

You bet your ass, someone still cares this much about Seaig in 2017! That someone’s me; I’m absolutely passionate about this couple and I want to give it the analysis it deserves. I feel like several fans overlook the importance of Sean and Craig’s friendship these days, even though it helped shape who they were in later seasons. As for the love aspect of it, I believe that it shouldn’t be swept under the rug with other non-canon M/M DTNG ships like Spay and Sparco. It’s common to dismiss these kinds of couples because several shippers have a hard time expanding their reasoning beyond “they look hot together” and referring sceptics to one or two scenes with the two guys that seem a little suspect.

 

 

With Sean and Craig, however, I feel like the conversations that their supporters had about them back then could have gone much deeper than they did. They know that there are many reasons to support them and many hints to support said reasons, but none of these shippers, to my knowledge, have ever taken the time to explore Seaig. Long story short, it’s high time that these guys get their own manifesto.

 

Who The Hell Are You, Anyway? Why Should I Even Give You The Time of Day?

First off, how dare you? Gimme a chance, asshole! Second, you might find my perspective interesting after I tell you a little bit about myself concerning Degrassi. Ever since last year, I’ve been watching reruns of _Degrassi Junior High_ and its direct sequel _Degrassi High_ on TV. I enjoyed them both; they were campy, but there was something sweet and heartfelt about the whole thing. Now, I don’t remember how exactly I got there, but when I was mindlessly browsing the Web (as you do), I found myself on Boycott the Caf. This name might bring back memories (good or bad) for some of you, but if it doesn’t, you should check it out. It was an informative site that realized how shitty DTNG is; it provided explanations for episodes and characters all while delivering them with shock humor. It’s not for everyone, but for those of you who can handle it, I think you’re gonna love it. Take it from someone who you might accuse of jacking their style.

So, you noticed that I called Degrassi: The Next Generation shitty. You can’t say that the show doesn’t have its faults. In fact, it has several of them. Many viewers, however, love it nevertheless and call themselves fans. I, however, prefer to call myself a “hate-watcher”. I can’t call myself a fan of DTNG, but if I know it so well and I can’t let go of it, then there’s obviously something that’s keeping me there, right? Well, that “something” is untapped potential; untapped potential to develop certain characters’ stories, to explore more important aspects of their psyches (especially in regard to life-changing moments for them), to have them make certain decisions, to take some relationships further. Also, some episodes are really well done (especially those directed by acclaimed independent filmmaker Bruce McDonald; how the hell did Playing with Time and Epitome Pictures get a hold of the director of _Hard Core Logo?_ ), which shows that DTNG can be damn good when it wants to be; unfortunately, it usually isn’t.

Most plots in the show are uninspired, underdeveloped or just plain stupid to me. Also, I find nearly every student uninteresting or irritating. If you’ve seen my profile here, then you already know that my exceptions to that last phrase are Sean, Craig and Ellie. Again, I find them to be pretty fascinating (even though Ellie tends to piss me off; she’s a lot like Asuka (right down to the red hair) from _Evangelion_ , another fascinating show that I’m this close to hate-watching) and they’re the reasons why I’m able to trudge on through this journey. Well, until season 6, at least. Anyway, I’ll get back to Sean, Craig and DTNG’s untapped potential later. If we want to explore their relationship and themselves, we gotta remember what set the stage up for all of this in the first place. That’s what the next section is for.

Oh, yeah, if you’re curious about which season I caught on TV first, it was the very end of the fourth one, in which good ole Joey Jeremiah and Kevin Smith himself attempt to stop this insane but loveable student (yep, my first exposure to Craig) from getting himself killed in the streets of Toronto. If it weren’t for the facts that I’m a huge fan of Smith’s films and that I had already seen a good portion of DJH and DH, I would have immediately tuned out. It also helped that Jake Epstein, the fine gent who plays said student, is such an amazing actor that I felt compelled to continue watching the show, if only because I wanted to know what would happen next to poor Craig. I then watched the entirety of season 5 and the first two episodes of season 6 afterwards.

 

 

Don’t. Just don’t if you know what’s good for you, man.

 

So, This Chick’s Ex and Her Childhood Friend Walk Into Each Other On the First Day of School, Right?

That’s basically how Sean and Craig’s friendship begins in the second season’s two-part premiere, _When Doves Cry_. After Sean insults Craig, who accidentally bumped into him, Craig calmly explains to him that he’s lost and that he needs help finding the Media Immersion lab. Sean then proceeds to take him there off-screen (like several of their interactions, unfortunately) and they become friends. This might seem pretty normal, even uninteresting to most of you, but this scene is interesting once you have some context.

About a year before this moment, Sean had transferred to Degrassi Community School in Toronto from his old junior high in his native Wasaga Beach. Someone screwed up the logistics of this transfer involving his credits, however, making it so that even though he was supposed to be in Grade 8, he instead found himself in Grade 7. There went something else to make Sean’s new life worse than it already was. He had just moved in with his older brother Scott a.k.a. Tracker after nearly killing a boy his age back home and being forced to leave his hometown by his parents. It doesn’t help that Tracker is just as poor as he and his little brother’s folks, neither.

Needless to say, the 2001-2002 school year for Sean was pretty fucking awful. Not only was nearly everyone at school terrified or disgusted by him (he even got to score himself an equally belligerent but rich and popular rival, Jimmy, in the process; a little like Sakura and Karin from _Street Fighter_ , if you will), but the only girl who ever gave him a chance, Emma (also, the reason why it’s called _Degrassi: **The Next Generation** ;_ you know, happy little accidents when you’re a teenager trying to make it through the 80s), wanted absolutely nothing to do with him anymore by the end of the year because they were sick of each other. All of that bad luck via Sean’s terrible decision making increased tenfold when he was caught making out with DCS’ student council president Ashley. Oh, look at that, she was dating Jimmy during this time. Drama. Everyone really hates them now and even Ashley didn’t feel like being his summer fling. Bummer, they could have killed time during summer break in the ravine.

As for Craig, we only know two things about his personal life before he meets Sean. One, his mom is nowhere in sight and his dad seems pretty bitter about it. Two, his dad doesn’t seem to like him very much. We, as the audience, also infer that the 2002-2003 school year will be his first at Degrassi because we didn’t see him there last season. Therefore, we can’t explore Craig’s perspective in that much detail for this section, but knowing what Sean went through last season is already enough to understand just how important his meeting with the new kid is in the grand scheme of things.

Now, let’s get back to Sean and Craig’s first scene together with all of this in mind. Already that Sean has a hard time connecting with others, the events of the first season pretty much squashed any desire of his to meet new people. What’s that? Are you already thinking about the hedgehog’s dilemma? Yeah, that’s pretty much what’s going down with this kid. What’s the point of getting close to people if both parties will eventually wind up getting hurt? Of course, making that sacrifice can also lead to fulfilling relationships (not just in the romantic sense), but Sean’s not in the proper state of mind to consider that perspective. So, he’s pretty much thinking “I don’t need friends, they disappoint me.” This, along with his irritable nature, is why he’s quick to snap at Craig when the latter accidentally walks into him while he’s trying to drink from the water fountain. He’s not in the mood to get into contact with other kids, so why should he bother giving this guy a break? There goes Sean, shooting quip after quip at this poor sod who dared to cross his path by mistake.

 

> Sean: “Is Degrassi a high school _and_ a blind school this year?”
> 
> Craig: “Sorry, man, I’m lost.”
> 
> Sean: “Buy a map!”
> 
> Craig: [holding up school map] “Already got one.”
> 
> Sean: [looks away]
> 
> Craig: “I’m not blind! Just, uh… Directionally challenged.”
> 
> [some faceless girls passing by the duo catcall Craig]
> 
> Craig: [cocking his head tentatively; almost like a puppy] “M.I. lab?”
> 
> Sean: [smiling, raising his glorious eyebrows] “Here, I’ll show you.”

 

What the fuck just happened in those 20 seconds? Let’s dissect this conversation some more.

 

 

The best thing about this scene is that even with all of this venom being shot at him on his first day in a new school, Craig not only refuses to back down, but also keeps his cool instead of snapping back at him. His behavior seems to impress Sean, because the guy just shuts down after the map retort and looks away, almost in defeat. This isn’t because he’s surprised by Craig’s resourcefulness for being able to acquire a school map or anything. You’d have to be braindead to be impressed by something that fucking simple. Rather, he’s taken aback by the fact that Craig doesn’t appear to be afraid of him, nor willing to fight him. Again, Sean’s experience with people generally goes as such:

 

> Sean: Hi.
> 
> John Doe: You scare me. You disgust me. You smell like roadkill. I want to hurt you. Kill yourself.
> 
> Sean: Fuck you! [punch]

 

Hell, this is a generalization of what a person would say to Sean if he even had the balls to initiate a conversation with him. Anyway, you can see that he’s used to being treated like trash when he’s not being ignored. The last person to give him a chance like Craig did? Emma, his ex-girlfriend, who we learn later on is also Craig’s childhood friend.

Sean thinks that this might be his chance to start over and make things right again. The new kid knows jack shit about him and doesn’t disrespect him right away: if he plays his cards right, this guy could be his new friend! Loosening up, he finally decides to give Craig a chance himself and helps him find the Media Immersion lab, happy that things might actually look up for him for once.

All in all, Sean’s got a new friend and Craig made his first friend at Degrassi. Also, they don’t hate each other’s faces right off the bat. Going by the fact that Sean raised his eyebrows not too long after some girls called Craig cute, maybe the latter could be a second chance for him when it comes to love, too...

 

 

Otherwise, what the fuck would he be raising his eyebrows for while saying “Here, I’ll show you” in an almost seductive way? That’s some [Catalina: Boy Band](https://youtu.be/b40QdTRaqFk) shit right there.

That's a gay porno, by the way.


	2. Their Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here, we're gonna revisit the second half of When Doves Cry, in which Sean and Craig's bond grows stronger after what they went through together in the episode. We'll also see why their friendship benefits the both of them and how they grew apart from each other despite this in later seasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you. Yeah, you. The guest who left kudos on the first chapter of the manifesto? Thanks a bunch, man! It means a lot to me that you'd do something like that. I'm happy that you liked it and I appreciate the support.
> 
> Not gonna keep you busy in the beginning notes for too long, given how lengthy the chapter itself is. Hope you're still enjoying the manifesto!
> 
> Again, all the pictures featured here are from kaleidocat's Crash gallery over at Craig-Ashley.com: http://www.craig-ashley.com/coppermine/index.php

Double Dutch Rudder

Hey, you know who besides Kevin Smith also showed up for the season 4 finale? His buddy and co-star, Jason Mewes. In one of Smith’s non Jay and Silent Bob related films, _Zack and Miri Make a Porno_ , Mewes’ character requests the titular male to help him via the “Dutch Rudder”. This means that he wants Zack to maneuver his elbow while his own hand is wrapped around his dick. After Zack disagrees, he offers the “Double Dutch Rudder”, in which both guys do a Dutch Rudder on one another.

Now, you most likely have two questions in mind: how the fuck did they let these people show up on Degrassi more than once and why am I talking about a scene with such sexually explicit dialog? One, the mysteries of the universe are infinite to me and two, because I believe that the Double Dutch Rudder is a great analogy for Sean and Craig’s relationship. Urban Dictionary expands on the earlier definition, saying that it’s the most intimate act that two guys can do to each other without it being necessarily gay; they’re only touching each other’s elbows, so it’s totally straight. Thing is, though, they’re still getting each other off.

Obviously, Sean and Craig don’t do this in the literal sense of the term (can’t show that on CTV!), but they definitely dance to the tune of the DDR (second cheapest joke in this manifesto, by the way) in the figurative sense. These guys often give each other a helping hand and bring each other to bliss (this is the actual cheapest joke in this manifesto). Hell, they’re pretty intimate with each other at times; but they’re just best friends! Very, very homoerotic best friends, but they’re not gay! Let’s face it, though, they had a little somethin’ going on there. But just how do they make each other happy? How do they help each other out? Well, it all starts with the second part of _When Doves Cry._

In the first part, we eventually learn that the nice kid who befriended Sean has a dark, painful secret. Remember his moody dad from earlier? Well, that guy psychologically torments and beats the shit out of his son on a regular basis. Stress relief, something that Craig did or didn’t do, you name it. Also, his mom’s dead. She left the guy for Joey Jeremiah himself and even had a daughter by him before the fact. Damn! Anyway, Sean’s the first person to figure out what’s wrong with Craig. At some point in the episode, Craig’s dad, Albert (a well-dressed surgeon played by **Hugh motherfucking Dillon** ; seriously, how the hell do they get these people on board?), finds out via his nemesis Joey that the kid’s been visiting his little half-sister Angela in secret for some time now. This prompts the man to whip out a god damn golf club and smash Craig’s bedroom door with it like he’s Jack Torrance or some shit. Fuck yeah, there goes the Degrassi we all know and love with attempted reverse parricide with a blunt object **in the second season premiere.** Shit, you don’t even wanna know what almost happened in the series premiere of The Next Generation.

Anyway, Craig dials his buddy so that they can meet by the train yard. He takes with him his bag and a skateboard that you never saw him use and that you will never see again after the following scene. So now, we have two boys who are coming of age walking along some railroad tracks. How convenient that Sean just happens to be doing his Chris Chambers cosplay (i.e.: one of three outfits he has in season two) for the occasion. After talking about their families, Craig tells Sean that he plans on running away to British Columbia so he can get away from this terrible situation that Sean is still a little clueless about. The latter tells him that his game plan is unsafe and that it will land him in the streets, which prompts Craig to say one of Seaig’s iconic lines:

 

> “Come with me! We’ll watch out for each other!”

Craig has only known this guy for a couple of days now, but he’s already pleading him to follow him on his trek across the Prairies and into the West. You might argue that the poor kid’s so out of it that he’s willing to string anyone along with him, but it would seem that Craig trusts Sean enough for him to add that they could watch out for each other; almost as if he’s comfortable with entrusting Sean with his life and that he’s confident that he’ll be able to protect him out there. Either way, Sean tries to bring back Craig to reality by telling him that he can’t just leave on a whim and put himself in a dangerous situation with him. He then starts to put some puzzle pieces together in his head.

When they were playing basketball earlier (in which he was shirtless for some reason; already coming onto Craig? Shit, you can’t say that the kid doesn’t know what he wants with this guy), bumping into his rib caused Craig to violently recoil and call off the game. Why the angry reaction? Why is Craig running away? Why isn’t Craig comfortable with talking about his family? When Sean finally decides to ask him whether his father hurts him, the silence he got in return told him everything that he needed to know. Wait a minute, what’s that glint in the distance? Oh, shit! A train’s coming down and Craig won’t budge! Sean’s not in the mood to witness a scene worthy of a _Faces of Death_ tape, so he throws caution to the wind and pulls Craig out of the way, inches away from being mangled corpses. What does he get in return for halting Craig’s suicide attempt? The fucker hauls ass while laughing like he’s already been prescribed pills for bipolar. Spoilers. Now, Sean did all of this because he didn’t want Craig to die. Would you let him die like that? A lot of people wouldn’t, but don’t have the courage to save him. For a guy who loves to metaphorically shit all over himself, he’s gotta give himself credit; that kind of bravery is pretty commendable. Sean has one goal in mind, now: protect his best friend and get him someplace safer.

The need to save Craig from his father is so strong that it brings exes back together momentarily; Sean and Emma convince Joey to help them find their friend. Yes, they had to convince him, because he doesn’t take kindly to his dead wife’s son trying to kidnap his daughter and taking her away to the other side of the fucking country. Hearsay of child abuse tends to change those kinds of thoughts, though, so he’s cool with joining the search party. Sean and Joey head out to find him, while Emma babysits Angela as usual. Going through Craig’s bag that he left behind, she notices that the cemetery could be a place of interest for the duo. It’s interesting to note that during the search, Sean looks increasingly worried as things start to look bleak. At this point, you can tell that Sean isn’t doing this out of some kind of moral obligation that he would have typically rejected to begin with. He’s legitimately concerned for Craig, even though he’s only known him for a little less than a week. There’s no doubting it anymore: Sean sees Craig as his best friend and is determined to rescue him before it’s too late. Long story short, they find Craig in the cemetery as expected, the latter calls Sean a liar for outing his suicide attempt to Joey (Sean, chilling out in the back, looks hurt after hearing this, but looks away like it’s nothing ‘cause boys don’t cry or some shit like that), he confesses to being abused and later, he moves in with his sister’s dad. Pretty decent outcome, if I do say so myself!

There’s no doubt that such a series of events would bring two people closer together. Sean and Craig become virtually inseparable from each other for several episodes of the season; when they’re not walking side by side in the hallway, they’re chatting about girls (especially their female “counterparts” Emma and Manny; trust me, the deleted scenes show that Sean has a hard time shutting the fuck up about his ex and even Craig starts to get sick of his shit). They even share a couple of funny and suspect lines together (“You know how much I love spending Friday nights alone,” says Sean when Craig tells him that he can’t come to the junior high seniors’ 80s dance because he’s a grade below him), these moments being great opportunities to showcase Epstein and (Daniel) Clark’s incredible chemistry. Sean continues to look out for Craig and check up on his wellbeing whenever he can, like asking him whether living with Joey is better than living with Albert in _Drive_ and spitting on the latter’s shoes in the season finale, _Tears Are Not Enough_ (also, he showed up at Albert’s funeral and tried to comfort Craig in a deleted scene; those two have several deleted scenes for some reason) _._ This isn’t a one-sided deal, though. Craig also does his best to be there for Sean whenever he can, like asking him if he’s alright after he fought Jimmy in _Karma Chameleon_ , defending his decision to invite him over to his place to Jimmy in _Drive_ (again; great Seaig episode and one of the best episodes of Next Gen, in my opinion) and worrying about him being drunk at Jimmy’s party in _Message in a Bottle._ It’s good that Jimmy’s always there to test the limits of Sean and Craig’s friendship. Thanks, asshole!

Their friendship allows the both of them to resolve their intimacy issues (and thus make new friends like Spinner and Marco), open themselves up to others (psychologically for Craig; emotionally for Sean) and feel like there’s really someone out there who gets them. Plus, Craig gets to finally feel safe with someone other than Angela (especially since she obviously can’t look out for him) and Sean has a close friend who can look past his bad reputation and his low socioeconomic status to see the outstanding guy within all of that.

Even with all of this, they stopped hanging out around the halfway point of the second season. Why’s that, you ask? Sean got back with Emma at the end of the two-part special, _White Wedding_. Therefore, he’s back to following her around like before, while Craig has to make do with Spinner, Jimmy and Marco. Thanks, asshole! However, this isn’t quite the end of their friendship. In fact, you could even say that it never even ended in the first place.

 

Life After Grade 9 (Grade 8 for the Shorter One)

 By the time the third season rolled around, you could separate most of DCS’ students in three different groups. You had the Spirit Squad with sassy Paige at the helm; Downtown Sasquatch, a band with Craig as its frontman and the Candy Bandits, a gang led by sleazy Jay with Sean as his shadow. Then you have Emma, Liberty, Toby, Chris, Rick, Kendra (for about two minutes) and Dylan. They just do their own thing and watch the drama unfold. As you can see, our boys have found themselves at the heart of two distinct cliques. Also, they changed drastically; Sean became a wigger while Craig became an indie kid. They also managed to score the affections of two girls each: Craig’s got Ashley and Manny who hate each other’s guts, while Sean’s got Emma and Ellie who acknowledge each other’s existence and go about their own business. As you can see, they don’t have much time for each other anymore.

 There was one scene with the both of them early on in _Gangsta Gangsta_ (what a fucking ridiculous episode title, Jesus Christ; you expect me to say that without cringing or even with a straight face?) in which they’re in shop class. Craig talks about how he expected the class to be easy, but Sean tells him otherwise; it’s not like he needs to, however, because Craig’s having a hard time fixing the transmission on their car. Jay silently intimidates Sean, who walks over to their station and shows the mysterious Towerz how to get things done. Craig just looks on as Sean does his thing, almost as if he knows that this is the last time they’re going to be with each other for the season. Jay is basically the Emma of season 3. Thanks, asshole!

 The fourth season has come and the guys are going through some pretty rough times. Bullied bookworm Rick carries out the least thrilling school shooting in television history and winds up being the only casualty after a struggle with Sean; after the latter goes back to Wasaga Beach to recuperate (i.e.: Daniel Clark gets to enjoy his half season and season five off on vacation someplace far away from the shitshow DTNG has become), Craig does a lot of weird, dangerous shit and he’s eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which his late father also showed signs of.

 Once more, Sean and Craig only share one scene together, but this is one of the most important ones that they ever had. In the season premiere, Ghost in the Machine, Joey tells his “stepson” Craig that he’s going to have to start paying rent to stay at his place. Craig decides to do the honourable thing and pussies out to Sean’s apartment after giving him a call. There’s no dialog between him and Sean, by the way. This scene is roughly 7 seconds and is part of a montage. Also, we only get to see Sean open the door, lower his phone from his ear like his estranged best friend and let him in while he pats his back in a reassuring manner. We don’t get to see what happens inside and none of them ever talk about the situation with the both of them and Joey. What the fuck, Degrassi? You don’t just start shit like that and let it rot! See, this is one of those instances of untapped potential that I brought up earlier.

 Anyway, this is a touching moment for me; it shows that even with all of the new friends that Craig has made, he still decided to go to Sean when he needed a place to stay. I feel like this speaks volumes about how Craig’s trust in Sean hasn’t faltered since the second season. Also, I love how Sean not only let him stay the night at his place, but also did that comforting back pat as if to say: “Don’t worry about it, man. I’m always gonna be there for you.” Again, even though Marco eventually became Craig’s closest friend, he didn’t go to his place for help. Nah, he chose Sean in the end. Seaig lives another day!

 By the way, Craig went to Vancouver at the end of the fifth season to pursue his music career. He comes back in the sixth season, a little after Sean comes back from Wasaga, and we see that he fucked up. Oh yeah, man, he fucked up big time. In _What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?_ _,_ the guy’s a cokehead now and he gets a pretty nasty nosebleed as he’s performing for his friends.  What does Sean do to help his close friend in need?

 Nothing. He continues to be a slave to Emma’s vanilla scented hair while his ex Ellie does all the heavy lifting. Well played, you ex-con piece of shit (yeah, that happened almost as soon as the sixth season started; don’t roleplay _Initial D_ in real life, man). I mean, I still love you, but come on. The guy obviously needs your help, but you settle for crying over your girl again instead of being there for him like you always were. Well, at least you showed up for the concert.


	3. The Case Study of Craig Manning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now, it's time to take a look at what makes each boy tick, starting with Craig. A character even more complex than the show he's in, this case study of him overviews his backstory and some of the worst aspects of his life before explaining what fuels his desires and anxieties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time coming, I know. It's good to be back, though; I really appreciate the support from you all.
> 
> Yeah, there's not a chance in hell that I'm gonna put both case studies in one chapter. I realized that I'm gonna have a lot to say about each guy, so this chapter's entirely dedicated to the moral enigma that is Craig Manning. Hope you like this one!
> 
> Screencaps are once again courtesy of kaleidocat from her Crash site, The Angsty Artists Online: http://www.craig-ashley.com/coppermine/index.php

Darkroom Dreamer

Some people refer to adolescence as “the loss of innocence”. In Craig Manning’s case, this loss is much deeper than what any youth should go through. One is expected to mature during this time; it’s not that Craig never matured, but he just took a much longer time to do so than his classmates. The catch, though, is that none of them experienced such intense childhood trauma like his own.

For several years, Craig lived a rather decent, if not upscale life with his biological parents Albert and Julia. Not much is known about Julia Jeremiah (her maiden name is unknown, but it goes without saying that her name was Julia Manning at some point), but it’s obvious that Craig loved her very much. As a matter of fact, it’s through one of Craig’s web journal entries that we learn that his mother played a much bigger role in his life than what we think:

> “When my mom was living with my dad and me – before they separated, way before she died – she was my defense shield from him. She took the punches.”

Yes, it is in fact canon that the abuse started that long ago. It wasn’t Julia’s death from cancer or even her inevitable leave that spawned Albert’s violent outbursts; if anything, they fueled the flame. At this point, you’re most likely wondering why she didn’t take her son along with her if she was already being abused by her husband. Again, the Manning backstory isn’t something that’s made clear in the show, but one can assume that she tried to gain custody of Craig, but failed.

Now, let’s get to the juicy bit: Dr. Albert Manning, the man who was the driving force behind the events of the season 2 premiere. An accomplished surgeon, Albert obviously has an eye for luxury; one can tell by just looking at his possessions, like his house and his car. He also showers his son in cash, allowing him to pursue his expensive interest in photography, complete with a darkroom within their very own house. However, money doesn’t solve everything, especially bruised skin and crushed feelings. Behind his gentlemanly presence, there is a deeply troubled man who’s slowly losing control of his life, despite being a control freak.

See, Albert has this nasty tendency of taking out his frustrations on his only child; the remnants of his relationship with his dead ex-wife. As vicious as his beatings are, however, he doesn’t really mean to hurt Craig. You can tell by the fact that some of Craig’s punishments occur for trivial reasons, like being slightly late for dinner. His profuse apologies after the fact to Craig usually have no effect on the audience, since there’s no forgiving child abuse, no matter what. For Craig, however, it’s quite complicated. Even though his father has caused him and his mother so much pain over the years, even though he wants to hate him for the beatings, for the divorce, for keeping him away from his half-sister Angela, he can’t bring himself to do it. Deep inside, Craig still loves his father anyway. But does Craig only love him simply because he’s his father? Is there something more to him that doesn’t involve the photography equipment he’s given? I could theorize on this for days, but this section is already very long as is. Anyway, all that matters here is that Craig has a complex love-hate relationship with his father. Scratch that, there’s something else even more important than that: both of them have bipolar disorder.

On the surface, one is tempted to explain away Craig’s major hardships by turning to the highs and lows that bipolar brings along with it. However, the highs are only the stray flicker igniting the gas station that is Craig’s cumulative psychological trauma. The suicide attempt with the train, the two attempts at running away from home, the cheating (and his feelings about Manny’s pregnancy), the failed marriage proposal: all of those events mainly have something to do with his troubled past; they represent the darker aspects of him, his fears. I’ll touch on those in a bit.

You know what? Let’s truncate shit and get right to the point. Craig had an overpowering desire to die and get away from it all, given the shitty events in his life. That went away for a while, but that gloomy undertone would come back to haunt him in season 6 with him losing it all to drugs and choosing music over university. As for the cheating, pregnancy and marriage proposal, two words. Just two.

Oedipus complex. Oh, baby, that thing’s a bitch to Craigger.

Not everyone takes the death of their mother well, especially when she unexpectedly becomes estranged from you and dies from cancer a few years later. Craig never got over it; it hit him even harder than Albert’s death. Yeah, he died, too. Anyway, our orphan friend’s taste in girls is a direct effect of Julia’s death. With Ashley, he acts more like her son than her boyfriend, right down to his idolatry of her for the entirety of the fourth season. It doesn’t help that her attitude towards Craig is often motherly, too, such as reminding him to behave once in a while and asking him whether he’s taken his pills. In the midst of one of Craig’s bipolar highs, he whips out his mother’s ring and proposes to Ashley with it, which not only reinforces the mother/son motif, but also highlights his desire to have a family of his own. Before I move on to explaining the incestuous nature of Craig’s relationship with Manny, I’m gonna talk about how important the concept of family is to Craig.

In literally what is the first scene of Doves, we see our curly haired beanpole covertly taking pictures of his little sister like some kind of pervert. Some time later, he’s taking pictures of her and Joey visiting Julia’s grave as he’s hiding behind a tombstone like he’s an armed spy in a Tom Clancy novel. More accurately, he reminds me of Bob Druwing in [the Cinco Boy sketch in _Tim and Eric._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqh_y-iH_Bc) Anyway, Craig has a specific purpose for taking these pictures. In the episode, we see that he often spends time in his darkroom. He uses the photos he’s taken to create a mock photo album of “the perfect family”: himself, Angela, Joey and Julia’s gravestone. He dreams of the life that could have been had she still been alive, had he been able to leave with her. Albert comes across this album near the end of the episode. Needless to say, he fucks Craig’s shit up with his own scrapbook. To be continued... Fortunately, we know that things got much better for Craig after that.

Craig not only has a creepy anime-esque fixation with his little sister, but also a strong desire to start a family. Even though Manny initially annoyed him, she reminds him of Angela. At first, that wasn’t a good thing. We can assume that he became more than okay with it by season 3 because they dated and even fucked. Not creepy at all. Manny gets knocked up. Much to her disturbance, Craig is euphoric about it, telling her how they could have a little family together. A little family full of clones of his sister. I’m in love with the casting choices for this goddamn show, man. Soon after, the girl kills the fucking thing and he loses his shit, yelling about the baby like he’s Samus Aran in _Metroid: Other M._

What do Ashley and Manny have in common? They were both forced into situations by Craig that a couple should be getting into long after high school. He has to wait before he can get married and have children, which took him a while in both cases to understand. If you ask me, I believe that those experiences turned him off from dating girls for a while, given that he didn’t reciprocate Ellie’s romantic feelings for him and that he’s single in _Next Class_ , implying that he and Yvette didn’t work out together in the end.

Ah, discipline. A foreign concept to Craig, really. Living in a household with such rigid rules to follow for so long took its toll on him, especially given that the only time that he was ever granted any happiness was whenever he adhered to Albert’s said rules. With him out of the picture, though, he soon learned that life doesn’t work on an obedience-reward basis. People are more complex than he thought they were, a fact that made itself obvious whenever he noticed that he seriously hurt someone’s feelings; especially Joey’s. All in all, Craig’s character could be described as the typical naïve spoiled brat, but brought up in a suffocating environment and thus having a lot more to learn from life than other spoiled teenagers. Albert may not have been able to teach his son anything valuable when he was alive, but his passing definitely helped him grow as a person and realize just how powerful unconditional love truly is, even if the unconditional part of it was one-sided.

So, we know that Craig wants a functional family, but what else is there to him? He fears loneliness, pain and restraint. In that respect, he wants to be with someone, to freely love someone without fearing abandon nor harm. Craig’s got a lot of love to give, but he needs to give it to someone who won’t boss him around like Ashley, but someone who won’t let him walk all over them like Ellie in later seasons. This person shouldn’t feel like a constrictor boa with their love, neither, like Manny. Again, Craig not only needs love, but freedom; freedom with reasonable limits. Also, he shouldn’t be with people who remind him of his mom or Angela, but that one’s a little less important in the grand scheme of things. What about him and Marco? It could work, but Craig’s a fun guy. Marco? Not so much. He can be fun at times, but he tends to be a little too safe, a little too steeped in routine, which will no doubt turn off Craig after a few weeks of them dating.

Sean seems like the right guy for Craig if you take all of these recommendations and use them to find someone for him that he’s already very familiar with. But what can Craig do for Sean? You’ll see how that works when we take a long, hard look at everyone’s favorite reformed delinquent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's that web journal entry I mentioned earlier, courtesy once again of kaleidocat: http://www.craig-ashley.com/Craig/craigwdc3.jpg


End file.
